How brands can bypass the algorithm | WARC | The Feed

How brands can bypass the algorithm

The future of online shopping is peer-to-peer, according to global media agency MediaCom APAC, and that gives brands an opportunity to move beyond its current algorithmically-driven form.

Why it matters

Social media is now far more than just media: social commerce is predicted to grow three times faster than traditional e-commerce, with implications for all consumer groups and product categories. And as social platforms offer more capabilities, stretching from discovery to purchase, brands need to understand how they can best deliver on this new peer-to-peer path to purchase. A white paper from MediaCom APAC, Social Commerce: taking the high street to the social feed, explains how.

Takeaways

• Rethink the commerce experience: get consumers to discover products by building authenticity and trust with audience-led experiences.
• The ‘unplanned exposures’ of social commerce allow consumers to discover new trending products from influencers and peers; brands have an opportunity to communicate their distinctive value at a previously static point of sale.
• To understand when to use social commerce, brands should just put “people” at the heart of their strategies and tap into existing behaviours, audiences and scale.
• A new process is required that produces peer-to-peer triggered discovery, matched to audience behaviours and optimised to the right platforms.

Key quote

“Starting with audience understanding in social commerce is critical. The ability to stitch together the path-to-purchase, with a closer relationship to their consumers will see new growth opportunities for brands like few in the past” – Zeljana Unkovich, regional strategy director, MediaCom APAC.

[Image: Photo Unsplash]